The new jazz prize

Inspirations for crossing boundaries

Awarded for the best live act: the quartet Synesthetic4

(Bild: © Astrid-Knie)

After a 15-year break, there is once again an Austrian Jazz Prize: the aim is to provide additional motivation for the lively and imaginative scene and make it more visible to the public. The awards have just been presented at Porgy & Bess in Vienna - with musical samples from the prizewinners.

The then well-established Hans Koller Jazz Prize was awarded for the last time in 2009. Now the award is simply called the "Austrian Jazz Award" and there are three categories: Best Live Act, Best Album and Best Newcomer.

First place is funded by the Ministry of Art and Culture with 10,000 and 5,000 euros respectively. This is also guaranteed for 2025, as Werner Kogler, who is still Minister, stated and appealed not to cut back on culture. Creativity, freedom and community are not only basic principles in music - and especially in jazz - but also in society. They particularly characterize the winners of the Austrian Jazz Award, but also the numerous nominees for it.

Best Live Act 
Clarinetist and multi-talent Vincent Pongracz and his quartet Synesthetic4 were awarded the title of Best Live Act 2024. Amazing sound sculptures are created from collectively muffled vibrations, the sound takes off spherically from a strong rhythm, Pongracz sets onomatopoeic rhythmic counterpoints, the four gentlemen set an absurdly funny movie to music off the cuff, there is fog and smell - and the universe continues to expand.

Best Album 
Bassist Beate Wiesinger and her septet "Echoboomer" were awarded the title of Best Album for their current project "Timeless Warrior", which takes them into new realms with its remarkable combination of classical string instruments, standard jazz instrumentation and electronics: strongly percussive, vocally reinforced and then again touchingly melodic and flowing along, in between kaleidoscopically fragmented and with a wonderful groove.

Newcomer of the Year 
The six-member jury selected 32-year-old saxophonist Yvonne Moriel as "Newcomer of the Year", who undertook an inspiring journey through improvisation, electronics, techno, ambient and bebop with her Sweetlife Quartet: Delicate and explosive, lyrically searching and maximally condensed.

Incidentally, the Austrian Jazz Prize 2025 will be awarded in Carinthia and this year's prizewinners will be seen and heard at various venues in Austria in the coming year. For example, the Echoboomers on May 12 at the Vienna Konzerthaus.